Surgical devices maker Encision (PINK:ECIA) found itself the unfortunate target of nearly 50 lawsuits over alleged injuries caused by transvaginal mesh devices that Encision neither manufactures nor distributes.
The Encision revealed in a recent SEC filing that it was named as a defendant in 47 separate but similar lawsuits over surgical mesh products manufactured by another unnamed company.
"We did not distribute or sell the manufacturer’s mesh product, which is the subject of these lawsuits," according to the company filing. "We believe that we have been named as a defendant in these lawsuits only because we served as a distributor for other unrelated products of that manufacturer."
The lawsuits should be covered by insurance and outcomes should not affect the company’s operations or finances, Encision added.
A raft of medical device companies – including Johnson & Johnson‘s (NYSE:JNJ) Ethicon subsidiary, Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), C.R. Bard (NYSE:BCR), Endo Health Solutions (NSDQ:ENDP), Cook Medical and Coloplast (CPH:COLO B) – are facing thousands of product liability and personal injury lawsuits over their respective pelvic mesh devices.
Controversy over the surgical mesh as been growing for years, gaining momentum in 2011 after the FDA issued safety communications about potential complications associated with the implants, suggesting that the devices be given a higher risk profile.